India, July 3 -- Andy Burnham, widely expected to succeed Keir Starmer as Britain's new prime minister later this month, is leading calls for the deportation of a grooming gang ringleader to Pakistan after he was released from prison on Thursday.

Burnham, the MP for Makerfield, likely to be elected unopposed later this month after Starmer's recent resignation, said he will "review all options" to remove Shabir Ahmed - convicted in 2012 of multiple charges of rape and sexual offences against young girls.

The scandal, which rocked Rochdale in Greater Manchester, falls within Burnham's patch as the region's former mayor and has hit the headlines again after it emerged that Ahmed is protected under a 1970s law that blocks his deportation. ...